Best PlacesMount Laguna, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mount Laguna, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mount Laguna ranks 48,903rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mount Laguna
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Mount Laguna's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mount Laguna ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 138 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- QuietBetter than 80% of towns
- BikingBetter than 69% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 67% of towns
Where Mount Laguna ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mount Laguna
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mount Laguna home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,560, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Mount Laguna's effective rate of 0.61%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mount Laguna
Mount Laguna runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mount Laguna.
Who works in Mount Laguna, and how
Work in Mount Laguna centers on construction and other services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Mount Laguna
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mount Laguna.
What the weather is like in Mount Laguna, month by month
Mount Laguna sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 51° | 35° |
| April | 76° | 58° | 42° |
| July | 93° | 74° | 56° |
| October | 85° | 64° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Mount Laguna
The nearest airport, Imperial County, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Diego International, about 48 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mount Laguna
Schools across Mount Laguna average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Descanso ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
- Potrero ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pine Valley MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Julian HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Mountain Empire HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mount Laguna school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mount Laguna measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Mount Laguna against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mount Laguna
Is Mount Laguna a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mount Laguna ranks 48,903rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and quiet, and lowest on air quality and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mount Laguna expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $244,414. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $77,560 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Mount Laguna safe?
Mount Laguna is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $964 per resident a year.
Compare Mount Laguna with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mount Laguna. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mount Laguna represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Mount Laguna detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mount Laguna: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mount Laguna: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mount Laguna: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mount Laguna: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mount Laguna detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.